When an unscheduled accident, road work, or other problem occurs requiring the blockage of one or more traffic lanes on a highway, traffic jams occur and drivers are frustrated because they can't see the problem and do not know how to avoid the delay and whether they should switch lanes to ease congestion of the traffic. Especially where hills or curvy roads block the view of approaching traffic or in inclement weather, drivers' vision is blocked so that they can select an appropriate lane. Signal lights like those used on emergency, utility or service vehicles such as police cars, fire trucks, ambulances, wreckers, electrical or mechanical service vehicles have improved from simple dome lights to light bars producing a variety of signals. Police cars, emergency and utility vehicles have emergency lights but these lights don't indicate what lane or lanes to avoid. Scenes of accidents, situations where help is being provided to a motorist or where a motorist is pulled over on the shoulder for a violational create traffic backups and hazardous situations for any personnel around such a scene.
Further, many injuries and fatalities occur at emergency scenes where emergency personnel, police or bystanders are struck by moving traffic because driver's are not aware of areas to avoid or to take special care. According to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund—Facts and Figures from www.nleomf.com, an average of 15 law enforcement officers per year were struck and killed by vehicles over the years from 1997 to 2006 as shown in the chart set forth in FIG. 7 and from 2000 to 2009 as shown in the chart set forth in FIG. 8. Videos on the news and documentaries have shown such incidents where a driver did not slow down sufficiently or remained in the emergency vehicle's lane resulting in them striking a police officer. At least some of these accidents could have been avoided using the present invention to warn approaching drivers at a distance to avoid emergency vehicles and personnel on the side of the road or the shoulder ahead. No driver wants to hit anyone with his or her vehicle and a simple but effective warning device such as the present invention would save lives and heartache for drivers and families of injured or dead victims.